Peninsula Regional Medical Center will pay the federal government $1.8 million to settle claims that officials at the Salisbury, MD hospital knew about, but failed to act on, unnecessary cardiac stent procedures performed by a cardiologist, the Department of Justice has announced.

The American Academy of Family Physicians wants to change the way the Relative Value Scale Update Committee does business, but will not join a lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court, says AAFP President Roland Goertz, MD.

Hospital chiefs forecast reimbursement cuts of 6% or $155 billion from Medicare reimbursement over the next 10 years. And if the so-called "super committee" can't find a way to cut an additional $1.5 trillion from the federal budget over 10 years, Medicare reimbursements will take an additional automatic 2% hit.

Physician groups are preparing for a winter of intense lobbying on Capitol Hill over a host of issues, particularly the controversial Sustainable Growth Rate formula and the debt ceiling vote fallout that could result in significant Medicare cuts impacting providers.

Date: September 22, 2011About: More than just a buzzword, patient experience has become the quintessential objective in our healthcare climate. Fortunately, the thriving world of social media offers proven pathways to not only create patient engagement, but actually build community around your organization. Learn how Emory University Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital consistently scores above the 90th percentile in patient satisfaction using social media tools and metrics.
LINK: http://www.hcmarketplace.com/prod.cfm?id=9670&s=EZINEADH&e_topic=WS_HLM2

Date: September 16, 2011About: With 20% of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries discharged from a hospital readmitted within 30 days, Baylor Heart and Vascular Center in Dallas, which boasts one of the lowest readmission rates nationwide (17.3%), and Our Lady of Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago, which cut its readmission rate from the nation’s second-highest (32.4%) to 15%, share strategies to help you reduce your readmission rates.
LINK: http://www.hcmarketplace.com/prod.cfm?id=9615&s=EZINEADH&e_topic=WS_HLM2